Nationals to oppose Indigenous Voice to Parliament, blasts Canberra bureaucracy

Senator Price, the NT CLP representative, used the announcement to take a swipe at the Minister for Indigenous Australia Linda Burney, accusing her of jetting into remote communities on private jets "dripping with Gucci" to "tell people in the dirt what's good for them".

Ms Burney hit back, saying politicians who oppose the Voice "want to hold this country back" and insisting the Voice is about improving First Nations lives.

But Nationals leader David Littleproud said the party has taken a position that Voice won't "close the gap" on Indigenous disadvantage.

"So the National Party has made a position that we will not support this to Parliament," he told reporters at Parliament House.

"We believe in empowering local Indigenous communities, giving them the power at a local level. Not creating another layer of bureaucracy here in Canberra."

Mr Littleproud was surrounded by most of the Nationals party room as he announced the decision. Darren Chester, who is overseas, later tweeted that he supported the party's position.

Senator Price, a Warlpiri-Celtic woman, said she was "very, very pleased" to be backed by her colleagues. She said the Voice model is about "empowering the elites" and she hopes that the Voice is not successful.

"I'm telling you now, it is not racist to disagree with a proposal that's been put forward to the Australian people that lacks detail that divides us along the lines of rights. I do not buy into that narrative," she said.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made a referendum on the Voice a priority of government this term, in July unveiling his "simple" proposed question. The Liberal party is yet to reveal its position on the Voice.

Mr Littleproud said "no one should feel any shame in voting no" to the Voice and he claimed some traditional owners in western Queensland have told him, "It means nothing to them. It won't help."

He said while there would not be an active Nationals campaign against the Voice, Nationals members will be allowed to campaign as they wished.

Senator Price has been a strident critic of the Voice to Parliament, for lack of detail and "based in emotional blackmail. She took a swipe at Ms Burney, the first Indigenous Australian woman to hold the Indigenous portfolio, as she stated that First Nations people were not as one on the Voice to Parliament.

"Despite what's been told to the Australian people, there are Indigenous Australians who do not agree with this, who do not know what this means," the senator said

"Minister Burney might be able to take a private jet out to a remote community dripping with Gucci and tell people in the dirt, what's good for them, but they are in the dark, and they have been in the dark."

Labor Senator Pat Dodson, the Special Envoy of the Voice, said Senator Price might be an Indigenous person, but "she doesn't represent the Indigenous peoples".

The Minister responded by describing politicians who oppose the Voice as wanting to "hold this country back".

"The Voice is about improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Better policies will be made when our people are heard," she said in a statement.

Ms Burney has posed to opposition leader Peter Dutton there is "political opportunity" in supporting the Voice.